In the Shadows
by charlibubble
Summary: Our CSI's investigate the disappearance of 2 teenage girls in a supposedly haunted house… "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth" GSR - of course! set post 'nesting dolls'
1. Chapter 1

Sara was storming through the lab; he had heard her coming and made a point of retreating to his office and looking busy. With any luck she wouldn't want to disturb him but if he knew Sara Sidle she wouldn't rest until her rant was heard, and he knew Sara very well. Sure enough within a few minutes she was standing in his office with her hands on her hips.

"Why did you send me out there when you _knew_ this was an abuse case?"

He looked up from his book pretending he hadn't expected her visit and gestured to the chair in front of him. He had learned throughout the years that stalling for time to compose his thoughts and actually form words was the best approach with Sara. She had a strange effect on him when she was like this. It wasn't so much that he feared her anger, he actually loved to see her so passionate and that was the problem.

"Did you close it?"

She sighed as she threw herself down in the chair and shook her head at him. It was her first proper marital abuse case since she had broken down. A part of her was glad she had gotten it out of the way and coped well with it, another part of her was angry with him for putting her in a position where she had to face her demons.

"No, two girls missing, a mother in hospital and a dad on the run."

There was a loaded silence between them as their eyes met; he wanted to reassure her, to tell her that he had thought long and hard about whether he was doing the right thing sending her to that case. The truth was it was almost a test for her, a chance for her to prove to Catherine and Ecklie and maybe him too, that she could cope with these cases with professionalism and detachment.

Brass appeared at the door before he had a chance to respond. He silently thanked him for the rescue, explaining his reasoning to Sara very rarely worked. He always said the wrong things and pushed her away when really that was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Got a lead on that 418 you guys been working on, they were seen at a house in Henderson 3 days ago"

Sara was on her feet and in pursuit of Greg within seconds leaving Brass loitering at the doorway. He looked after her and clicked his tongue before turning back to Grissom with a half smirk.

"Trouble in paradise again Gil? What did you say to her this time?"

Grissom shook his head and turned his attention back to his book. He wasn't delving into his complicated relationship with Sara, not today anyway.

Xxxx

Sara and Greg pulled up to a huge colonial house up a secluded alleyway in Anthem. The sun was beginning to peek over the horizon casting an eerie glow over the broken tiles and faded paintwork of the supposedly abandoned house. While the police officers cleared the inside the CSI's surveyed their surroundings.

"It looks like a haunted house. Have you ever seen The Amityville Horror?"

"Everyone's seen Amityville, Greg"

"I bet it's haunted too, I bet there have been dozens of unsolved murders and when we luminol the front room the whole house will glow"

Sara shook her head and rolled her eyes, she wasn't in the mood for discussing the paranormal, she was still angry with Grissom. She did find herself taking it out on Greg a lot more than normal these days. Trying to remain calm, composed and professional in front of Grissom was proving to be more difficult than she had thought. She and Greg had spent a lot of after work hours propping up the bar discussing everything and anything except Grissom. Yet, somehow it always seemed to relate back to him anyway.

"Ok, what's he done now?"

Sara raised her eyes to meet his, feigning surprise at his question. She was always surprised at how well Greg could read her. It worried her slightly that she was nowhere as mysterious as she liked to think.

"Who?"

"Who else?"

She rolled her eyes; there was no need to justify his comment with a response. He knew her better than anyone. She crouched down to rifle through her kit before cursing under her breath and standing up.

"I left my file in his office! Now I'm going to have to call him so it doesn't disappear under all his _stuff_"

"Freud would be proud"

"Shut up Greg"

She moved to lean on the side of the car and flipped open her cell phone while Greg studied what used to be the garden. It was now a jungle of overgrown rose bushes and wild grass. There was an old tricycle lying on the grass, one of its wheels lay abandoned on the cracked and overgrown pathway. A beat up old car with its window's smashed and its wheels removed sat in what was once the driveway and a porch swing squeaked as the wind moved it back and forth. A huge oak tree waved its branches casting shadow's over the smashed windows and crumbling chimney.

Sara was making her way to him as the police officers came back outside. They looked pale and concerned as they approached them.

"We cleared it but something really creepy's going on in there guys"

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see, freakiest thing I've seen in a long time. Be careful"

Greg looked like he was about to explode with excitement as they stepped towards the house. The porch creaked and groaned as they took the few steps towards the front door and some metallic wind chimes sounded their music into the cold morning air. They exchanged a glance as Sara slowly swung open the front door.

"Hey guys! I'm going to take off. I'll post Franklin at the gate"

They both jumped at the sound of his voice and laughed nervously as they realised they had been holding their breath. Sara waved her hand at the officer and nodded to Greg as they took a few more hasty steps inside the dark hallway.

Their flashlights lit up the hallway, there was nothing untoward. A thick coating of dusk covered everything and spider webs hung from the light fittings and paintings hanging on the walls. A stairway directly in front of them twisted towards the upper floor, a stained glass window on the landing filtering the sunlight into red's, blue's and green's as it reflected onto the wooden floor. The walls were littered with cracks and holes and the air was thick with a metallic smell.

"Kinda creepy huh?"

Sara ignored his comment, instantly scanning the scene for any sign of wrongdoing. Her flashlight lit the floorboards as she stepped carefully along the creaky floor.

"Hey, this looks like scratch marks" she called as she snapped a photograph "two lengths of 4, could be human."

The scratches led into what was clearly the living room. A huge fireplace dominated the room, two old sofa's covered in plastic sat at either side of it and a dark red stain covered the floor in the centre.

Sara and Greg exchanged a look as they moved across the room. Bloody handprints at the base of the fireplace slid their way through the blood pool and onto the wall.

"This looks like words, can you pass me the Luminol please?"

Greg reached into his kit and passed her the bottle, his eyes scanning the walls carefully. He swabbed the blood pool and snapped some photographs of the scene while Sara sprayed the wall. A few seconds passed as the wall lit up.

"Help Me"

Sara raised an eyebrow as Greg's camera snapped some more photographs. As the words disappeared they were disturbed by gunshots outside. They drew their weapons and stepped out into the porch again.

"Everything ok Franklin?"

The young police officer was stood at the gate, his gun drawn and pointed at the house. His breathing was fast, sweat poured down his face and he was shaking so much that they feared he could shoot at them at any moment.

"I… I saw something, at the window. I swear there was something there."

"I thought you guys cleared the place?"

"We… we did. It wasn't a person… it was… something else"


	2. Chapter 2

They couldn't seem to do anything to calm the officer down, it was literally as though he had seen a ghost. Sara studied the exterior of the house and saw nothing untoward. There were no shadow's in the window's, no eerie noises or unusual movements. She did feel a strange sense of dread, all the hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end and her heart was racing.

The officer's gunshot had hit their car, the gas was steadily pouring from the bust fuel tank and onto the muddy driveway. Greg was walking around the yard attempting to get a signal on his cell phone. The desperation on his face made her laugh, for a scientist Greg was completely sold on the idea of the supernatural.

"I'll call him, you sit here with Dr Lesh"

"haha! A Poltergeist Fan, I knew you watched scary movies"

She moved to the side of the car and punched in Grissom's number with a sigh. She was very aware that she had called him once already today.

"Grissom?"

"you have caller ID, why do you always answer your phone with a question?"

"did you call just to test me on my telephone etiquette?"

She narrowed her eyes and shook her head towards Greg as he grinned inanely at her.

"we need some help out at this scene, Franklin flipped out and shot our car and we have a blood pool that suggests foul play"

"is Franklin ok?"

She took a deep breath, she had been keen not to get into this with him.

"he thinks he saw a ghost"

She could just picture him raising an eyebrow and slipping his glasses off. Despite herself she was smiling at the image and waiting for his response with baited breath.

"I'll be right out, don't process the scene till I get there."

Sara didn't answer, she had perfected the skill of disobeying Grissom's orders by not acknowledging them. She had no intention of letting this scene go cold especially if there was someone or something hiding upstairs as Franklin would have them believe. She hung up the phone and turned to Greg with a smile.

"Grissom's on his way, we've to stop processing."

"so we going back in then?"

"yep"

They carefully took the stairs with their guns drawn, their breath making clouds of white smoke in front of them. Each step made a creak echo around the empty staircase, their flashlights lit the cobwebs that coated the high ceilings, the discarded furniture and the empty beer bottles littering the ground.

"looks like we missed the party" quipped Greg.

Sara's beam of light fell on a mass of broken glass spattered with blood.

"could be a sign of a struggle"

There was a crashing noise coming from the next floor and Sara and Greg were immediately on high alert. Their eyes darting around in the darkened house as they took the second flight of stairs to the attic room with their firearms raised in anticipation. They barely let out a breath as they peered into the huge attic room. A single window on one end let in barely any light and plastic hung from the beams on the ceiling. There were boxes and bags everywhere, dolls stared at them with empty eyes from their final resting place and tattered teddy bears reached out towards them as though begging for another chance. It was a horribly creepy place and they exchanged a glance knowing that neither of them wanted to be there.

"it must have been something outside, there's nobody here"

Greg nodded in agreement as he peered into the narrow blackness in the eaves of the house. A person could easily slip in there without being noticed. He stepped along the length of the attic carefully making sure to check behind boxes and toys as he went when suddenly the room was filled with light and Grissom's voice sounded from outside.

"SARA!"

They laughed nervously as they made their way back to the staircase. The lights were dull and flickered in the soft wind that blew through the house but they lit up enough for Sara and Greg to see the carnage of the first floor a lot better than when they had passed on their way to the attic.

The mess of beer bottles and cigarette butts which covered the hallway was only the beginning, broken glass crunched under their feet and the stench of urine filled the air. One of the rooms towards the back of the house had a filthy old mattress on the floor and a rag placed over the window to filter out the light.

"who says romance is dead?" Sara stated as her flashlight highlighted a collection of used condoms in the corner.

"SARA? GREG!"

"we'll be right down!"

Greg yelled down the stairs as they picked their way through the party leftovers and took the steps. That's when they noticed the blood on the way down to the ground floor. All the way down the walls were dotted with handprints and scrape marks as though someone had been carried up the stairs and they fought the entire way. Sara swallowed the lump in her throat as Grissom approached them with a questioning look and Nick opened the front door with a smile.

"I got the genny working , let there be light huh?"

As soon as his eyes scanned the hallway the smile slipped from his face.

"what's going on with this house, did we step into a horror movie?"

"upstairs is even worse, we haven't finished yet. Still have the rest of this floor and the basement to cover"

Grissom had been silently cataloguing the room while they spoke, his eyes scanning every tiny detail and interpreting it immediately.

"I'm sure I told you to stop processing"

Nick and Greg exchanged looks, anticipating fireworks they almost took a step back to avoid the explosion of Sara Sidle but she managed to keep her cool despite speaking through gritted teeth.

"we were clearing the house, the officer said he saw someone"

"he said he saw something Sara, you could have been in danger. It's the police's job to clear a scene, not yours"

"well I'm fine, Franklin's 'ghost' didn't kill me. I've got a room to process Grissom"

She turned and stomped into the living room leaving the three men standing in awkward silence. Grissom rubbed his forehead and pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling loudly before turning to them.

"Nick, you and I will take the kitchen. Greg… "

"yeah I know, I get stuck with little miss menstrual"

Nick laughed as Greg made his way back to the living room, Sara was hunched over the blood pool swabbing and measuring with deep concentration. Greg got to work on the rest of the room. Hairs and beer bottles were collected, broken glass was found in the blood and a crumpled up, charred piece of paper was found in the fire grate.

"we're finished with the kitchen, do you need any help in here?"

Sara shook her head as she stood from her position beside a huge mirror. She stared at the image reflecting back to her with a frown.

"do you see that?"

Grissom carefully stepped across the room to take position behind her as she reached out to wipe some of the dust and cobwebs from the glass. he was close, she could feel his body heat and the rhythm of his breathing, it made her heart race despite her internal dialogue screaming at her to remain composed. He joined her staring in the dusty mirror, not quite sure what he was looking for.

"top left, look at the wall then look here"

Grissom did as he was instructed, the wall looked like any other in the room. Dirty, dusty and cracked. The house had definitely seen better days but when he looked into the reflection in the mirror he saw something entirely different.

Grissom frowned as he analysed the image. There was no mistaking the dark shadow of a face and yet there was no trace of it on the actual wall. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the mirror but the image didn't move or smudge. He picked the mirror up in his hands and tilted it around but with each movement the shadow remained as it should.

"take a photo of that will you Greg?"

Greg stepped beside them and snapped a photograph before handing the camera to Grissom. He looked at the screen before showing it to Sara with a raised eyebrow.

There was nothing there but the reflection of a wall.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ok, Nick and Greg take the perimeter, we'll take the basement"

"What about the creepy face?" Greg was studying the mirror closely his inquisitive energy almost fizzing.

"Is it evidence?" Grissom shot him down in an instant. He was right, for now a shadow in the mirror was completely irrelevant.

Grissom was gone from behind her and she was brought back to reality with a crash. Her earlier resentment towards him was forgotten completely. He could always do this to her, one second she was avoiding him like the plague, the next she was aching for him to reach out and hold her in his arms. It was confusing to say the least, if she couldn't understand her own emotions what chance did he ever have? As they stepped out of the room Greg stopped dead, almost causing everyone to crash into him like dominoes.

"Did you move my evidence bags?"

Sara shook her head and exchanged a glance with Grissom.

"Why would I do that?"

"They were right there. I sealed them all and stacked them right there"

"You lost all the evidence?"

"I didn't lose it, it was right there. Someone moved it"

"Find it Greg"

Grissom almost growled it as he placed a hand on the crook of Sara's back and steered her towards the basement stairs and Nick shrugged as he walked towards the door.

The temperature changed the instant they stepped into the basement. It was cool, dark and damp; the flashlights barely cast enough light to see by. The walls were lined with shelves and cabinets, tools and jars covering almost every surface. The floor of the basement was soft and slippery. She almost fell over when her feet hit the floor; luckily Grissom grabbed her arm sending a bolt of lightning through her entire body. The air was thick with tension; she felt an urgent need to dispel the atmosphere in the room. If they stood any chance of working together she had to remain professional.

"I uh… guess they had a flood…"

Sara instinctively moved away from him, searching the walls for a light switch. The dim light flickered and hummed, highlighting the grimy, filthy basement. Her eyes cast over the room, grasping for a first impression or an instinct. Grissom had always taught her to never dismiss her instincts and of course he was right. More often than not her instincts were spot on.

He was watching her, she could feel his eyes burning into her that way they always did. He never watched her with indifference, he studied her intently and it always made her heart race. She did try not to acknowledge it, she had decided a long time ago that pandering to his affections often made him back off. The best way to deal with Gil Grissom was much like a butterfly, holding very still and having the patience of a saint. There was something off about this room, although it was on the surface like any other basement, something didn't fit and she couldn't put her finger on it.

"What are you thinking?"

She turned around to face him, frowning that her initial scan of the room had been fruitless.

"Nothing, I see nothing. It's odd"

"Exactly, where's they layer of dust from upstairs? The handrail is perfectly clean; there are no cobwebs on the window…"

"This was their way in"

She moved over to the small window and tried to push it open, it was latched from the inside. The glass was broken but ragged and sharp. She spotted a patch of fabric which she bagged before turning to see Grissom staring at a seemingly empty wall. He was deep in concentration, his eyes slowly covering every inch of the space with intense scrutiny.

"What do you see here?"

She took position beside him, their arms barely touching. It was enough to make her heart react, she may be able to control her outer reactions but she had no control over the inner workings of her body. She studied the bare patch of wall, not sure what she was looking for but keen not to let him down. She had long since stopped looking for his approval or validation but she still wanted him to see her as an intelligent, gifted CSI.

"I don't see anything, it's just a wall"

"Exactly, why here? The rest of the room is packed with stuff why is this particular patch empty?"

He was right of course, the patch of wall seemed out of place, rehearsed as though it had specifically been kept clear. She slipped her gloves off her hands and started feeling around the edges of the space. The lights were flickering, plunging the room into darkness and back again as Grissom studied the fuse box and various wires and switches attached to it. Suddenly the entire room was black. The tiny basement window letting in no light at all so that even seeing a hairs width in front of her was impossible. She heard a sliding noise and the wall in front of her simply gave way and she fell into the darkness, hitting the slimy ground with a grunt.

"Sara? Are you ok?"

His voice was muffled, as though he were in a different room. She clicked on her flashlight and saw a completely different room from where she had been just a few seconds ago. More importantly she couldn't see Grissom. She was in a tiny box of a room with nothing in it but a chair and a mirror on one wall. It was incredibly unsettling, it felt like a prison. The flashlight flickered and fizzled out after a few seconds casting a deep black shadow over the room.

"Grissom?"

It didn't take her long to realise she had found the purpose of the empty wall, there was clearly a door hidden there. The door to her little room and she couldn't remember having found a switch or a lever to have opened it. Once again her hands were feeling the creases of a door on the darkened wall in an attempt to escape; she could hear shuffling and scraping on the other side where Grissom was clearly mirroring her actions.

The room was filled with a dim light again as the generator burst into life and she suddenly felt incredibly claustrophobic. Urgency was building up within her that made her need to escape this room reach fever pitch. Her hands were furiously studying the wall when she heard a strange noise in the corner of the room, like a mechanical whirring sound and she turned to study the corner for a few minutes, listening carefully as she stepped across the room.

A tiny red blinking light shone out into the darkness in the corner, it would have been almost impossible to see when the lights were on and she suspected that was the idea. The lights flickering on and off made it hard to pinpoint its location. The room was once again plunged into complete blackness and even the red light was gone as Sara stood in the centre of the room, disorientated and unsure what to do next. She heard a sliding sound behind her and whirled around quickly, gasping as her hands rested on the soft, warm folds of Grissom's jacket. She could barely breathe as she felt his hand resting on her hip, every pent up emotion and supressed feeling resurfacing in that instant as they stood there suspended in their moment, the sexual tension that had been building up for the best part of 7 years filling the space instantaneously. It felt as though time stood still as the generator sprung to life again and their eyes locked.

She knew what was coming; she could feel it in every fibre of her body as his eyes subtly moved between her lips and her eyes. She couldn't look away, as much as she tried to will herself to break free from his embrace and never look into his eyes again she was helpless, lost in the way he looked at her, with such admiration and love. She would never understand why he was so afraid of her but in that moment she knew that his barriers were down, he was moving even closer. The space between them barely visible and her heart was racing so fast that she would be surprised if he couldn't feel it though the thin fabric of her blouse as she was pressed against his chest.

"Hey guys!"

Grissom pulled away from her instantly as though she was burning him. She cursed the day Greg Sanders decided to stick his stupid face in the basement window and destroy her perfect moment. She had come crashing back to reality and was left with the aching realisation that a moment like that probably wouldn't come around again for another 5 years.

"Nick and I found some bones! They look human"

As he stepped out of the tiny room his eyes cast over her again, she wasn't sure she could read the expression. Regret, longing maybe, it was impossible to tell and she had a feeling she would probably never find out.


	4. Chapter 4

Sara reluctantly followed him out; he could feel her eyes burning into his back filled with negative tension. He kicked himself for allowing things to go that far; he had always tried to keep a professional distance from her because he knew that the potential was always there for things to go too far. He was beginning to feel that they had already crossed that invisible line and not recently either.

He was spending more and more of his time pondering whether they had ever actually been on the professional side of the line at all. Their relationship had always been slightly blurred in his mind but these days his focus seemed to be sharpening in all the wrong ways. He would find himself watching her at the most inappropriate times, focussing entirely on her and blanking out the rest of the world. He was sure Sara had noticed, his reactions towards her must be confusing.

Greg was waiting for them at the front door, Grissom nodded as he passed him marching towards the back yard where they had supposedly found bones. Greg fell into step with Sara, beaming widely at her as she stomped across the thick grass and shrubbery in the yard.

"What was all that about then? Did I disturb something down there?"

She narrowed her eyes and shook her head at him, Greg would gossip no matter what she said it was best to ignore him completely. They turned around the back of the house to see Grissom crouch down beside Nick at a patch of dirt. There was a cluster of bones arranged in a pile in the centre of the dirt. Greg snapped photographs as Nick and Grissom processed the bones carefully, cataloguing each one as they removed them. Sara was gazing around the garden, her eyes casting over the rubble and the wreckage covering every available space. For some reason the dilapidated shed propped against the crumbling wall was calling to her. There was just something peculiar about it that was drawing her in.

Grissom glanced after her as she slowly stepped across the garden. His eyes flickered from the bones to her retreating form and then quickly back to the bones as Greg smiled manically at him. He responded by nodding for Greg to follow her, that way he was occupied with something else instead of watching their every move. Truth be told there was probably quite a lot to read into between them if you looked hard enough; he was keen to avoid that scenario.

"Hey Sara! Wait up"

He jogged a little to catch up with her, not that she slowed down. Her eyes were positively fixed on the rotting wooden door and the rusty old handle of the shed. She barely blinked as she slipped her gloves onto her hands without a word and pulled at the door. The wood around the lock disintegrated under her touch and the door creaked open revealing the deep darkness inside. She sighed deeply; she was already fed up of the dark. What she wouldn't give for a room, any room, just one room that was lit effectively eliminating the need for her flashlight.

Greg was behind her, his head almost leaning on her shoulder as he strained to see into the interior. She could never claim to have personal space issues but that didn't mean she wanted him perched on her shoulder like an over excited little parrot.

"Greg, you mind backing off a little?"

He raised his hands and stepped back from her as she took a few steps into the musty shed, her flashlight cast over the corners, the walls and the floors before something glinting in the beam of light caught her eye. She crouched down to a huge box filled with plant pots and garden tools and pushed it to the side, right there under the wooden worktop was a pink sparkly purse complete with a bunch of key rings attached to the handle. She gestured for Greg to snap a photo before removing it and standing up.

The purse was full of the usual things you would find in a young girls belongings. Cell phone, make up, diary, Sara opened up her wallet to reveal a photograph of the two missing girls smiling and happy, making silly faces and hugging. The way best friends should be.

"Student card, Lesley Adams. She's definitely been here"

Greg gathered up the purse and glanced around the room.

"But is she still here?"

"I guess that's what we have to find out"

She could see there was no point dusting for prints; the shed mirrored most of the house it was caked in a thick layer of black dust and dirt. There were however signs of disturbance. The edge of the worktop was clean and a borderline viable footprint lay caked in the mud on the floor. Greg was studying a patch of floor with interest. She watched him as he bounced up and down then frowned and felt around on the floor before bouncing again.

"What on earth are you doing Greg?"

He looked up with a sheepish grin before falling to his knees and brushing some soil away with his gloved hand. Sure enough a sheet was under a thin spattering of dirt and he pulled it away to reveal a makeshift trapdoor in the floor.

"Jackpot, will we open it?"

Sara glanced outside quickly; Grissom and Nick were still hunched over their dirt patch discussing the bones. She could probably do without being close to Grissom right now anyway; she had yet again let her guard down when it should have been on high alert. She drew her firearm out of its holster and pointed it at the door, her eyes fixed and determined as she nodded towards Greg.

"Let's do it"

The trapdoor may have looked thin and feeble but in actual fact it weighed a lot more than he had anticipated. It took all his strength to heave it open revealing a set of stone steps disappearing underground and into complete blackness. They both peered into the hole, their flashlights barely penetrating the cloak of darkness below. Their nervous glances spoke volumes as they simultaneously took each step. They could barely see a step in front of them and they were both aware of how dangerous their exploration could be but it was exhilarating and exciting to be discovering something new. Something hidden right under their noses. The stairway was clear; they reached a small square landing, walls surrounding them on all sides. Their flashlights lit on stone and brickwork and eventually what looked like a thick iron door.

They tried everything to get it to budge, Greg even ran up the stairs to fetch an array of tools but it was no use. Nothing could move the huge door, Sara peered through the tiny space between the frame seeing nothing but more bolts and locks in their way.

"So now what?"

Sweat glistened on his brow from the exertion of fighting with the door, she knew from experience there was no way they were getting inside without the right equipment.

"I guess we need the police department after all"

There was rustling and disturbance above them as a flashlight shone down the stairs towards them

"Sara? Greg?"

It struck her as a little pathetic that she could identify him by his footsteps, he was making his way down the steps and Greg began to beam as he exchanged a mischievous look with her before making an attempt to retreat from their hole. She grabbed his arm before he had the chance, holding him in his position beside her and squeezing until he relented.

"What are you two doing down here, you should have called us over before proceeding"

"You looked busy, besides there isn't anything here just this door."

She elbowed Greg in what she hoped was a subtle reminder to speak and appear to be professional.

"We can't get it open" he offered.

That was all he piped up with; she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She was currently in a very confined space with the man who could curl her toes just by looking at her and the man who's shoulder she spent a lot of her time proverbially crying on. It was the stuff most confusing nightmares were made out of, only accentuated by the fact that Nick appeared at the doorway to join the party.

With the four of them completely unnecessarily crammed into the tiny square the heat levels and air thickness were increasing and she found herself panicking slightly. her breathing quickened and her heart raced she felt the room start to spin and the colour drained from her face. She had an urgent need to be outside in the cool, fresh air and she pushed past her colleagues with some urgency. It didn't go unnoticed to her that Grissom followed her out, he watched her as she leaned against the rickety door frame and attempted to calm her breathing. He watched her as she scraped her hair back into a messy ponytail and surveyed the huge expanse of house in front of her.

"Are you alright?"

She didn't look at him, she knew that if she dared to look into his eyes she would say a lot more than she intended to. She always did it was as though he hypnotised her to over talk, to tell him the innermost workings of her mind before she fully understood them. Not this time.

"I'm fine, I guess I don't really like confined spaces"

He took a few slow steps towards her, pressing his hands together and taking a breath as though preparing for a big speech. He knew he had to diffuse this situation before the sparks became a full blown bonfire, as much as he would love to indulge is curiosity he couldn't cross the boundary with Sara. His fantasies had to remain just that for now. A fantasy.

"Sara, I wanted to… I _have_ to..."

She knew that he was gearing up to give her a speech. One of his inappropriate relationship speeches where he dashed all her hopes and dreams and broke another little piece of her heart. She liked to imagine that he was in fact there to declare his love for her, to tell her that he had finally realised what she had always known but they were disturbed. It seemed as though they were destined to always be disturbed. A terrible blood curdling scream sounded out into the air from inside the house.

The speech would have to wait.


	5. Chapter 5

They both took off in the direction of the back door, the screams continuing to reverberate around the empty house. Sara reached out to the handle and pulled back quickly as her hand was coated in a thick clear liquid the consistency of glue or wallpaper paste. The disgust registered in her face as she glanced at Grissom and he pushed open the door, steering them both through to the dark kitchen. He called behind him as he drew his firearm and instinctively stepped ahead of Sara, his hand resting for the briefest of moments on her arm.

"Greg! Process that door handle"

The screaming had stopped and they were faced with the unsettling silence of the house, their steps sounding in stereo as they took the stairs two at a time. No-one had explored the upper floor properly yet, the hallway stretched out in both directions from the top of the stairs. Rows of grimy doors greeting them and no sound to guide their search. Grissom gestured for her to take the left side and he veered to the right.

The first two doorways were completely fruitless, a jumble of junk and old furniture spattered with bottles and food wrappers. As she approached the third door she listened carefully from the outside. She was sure she could hear a whimpering sound from inside. The door creaked as she slid it open. Her flashlight highlighting the white tiles on the floor and the blood trail.

"Is there anyone there?"

The whimpering continued as she stepped into the room. The intensity of the copper smell filled her nose and transported her to an altogether different place. A place she didn't want to ever return to, one that was locked away in her memory, supressed in her subconscious for many years. Her heart was racing, her breathing rapid and she realised through the dizziness that was beginning to overwhelm her that she was panicking. Never before had a crime scene affected her so badly, she felt like she was about to faint. Her hand reached out to grasp the sink by her side to steady herself, to compose her thoughts but as she looked into the mirror her initial reaction to the room was completely forgotten.

"GRISSOM! In here!"

She left her flashlight at the doorway and ran to the bath just as the young woman slipped under the water. Her hands hooking under the girls arms and heaving her out. With a grunt they both fell to the ground and as Grissom's flashlight filled the room she could see that the 'water' was in fact blood. And a lot of it.

Grissom pulled off his jacket and draped it over the girl as she lay trembling in Sara's arms. Her blonde hair hanging limply around her face as she stared with fixed eyes at the floor, muttering unintelligible words. Sara recognised her as one of the missing girls, she quickly glanced over her arms and legs looking for injuries or wounds that could have attributed to the bath of blood but the girl didn't appear to be injured at all.

"Anna, are you injured? Is Lesley here with you?"

She looked at Sara; her eye contact was almost frightening. The pain and fear in her eyes made her breath catch in her throat as Anna shook her head before collapsing in a symphony of sobs, burying her face into Sara's shoulder. She held her, stroking her hair and uttering comforting words as Grissom looked on from his position at the bathroom door. It struck her as odd that he was willing to just stand there and observe, the sympathetic expression on his face was one that was familiar to her and she realised that this display of affection and raw emotion was uncomfortable for him. He didn't know how to respond; when she had broken down he had reached out and held her hand. It was probably the closest he had come to comforting someone with bodily contact.

"I have a spare suit in my trunk, will you ask Greg to go get it"

Grissom nodded and retreated out of the room. She held the girl out at arm's length and looked at her again. She was yet to stop shaking; her eyes wide and scared as they darted around the room.

"Are you hurt Anna, can you tell me what happened to you?"

She started furiously shaking her head, pulling Grissom's jacket closely around her body for protection. Her eyes fell onto the bath, the blood streaking handprints down the tiled walls and dripping all over the floor. Her shoulders heaved and bucked as she fought to hold back the vomit in her throat, eventually hunching over and crying as she lost her lunch.

"Let's get you out of her will we?"

Sara helped her to stand and shakily walk into the hallway where Grissom was staring out of the window, watching Greg race across the overgrown garden with the plastic wrapped boiler suit in his arms.

"I'll get Greg to help me process the bathroom; you can stay with the girl"

He pushed open a door of the room directly beside them, it was mostly empty. A cast iron bed lay in the centre, the mattress long since discarded. Grissom stepped into the room, checking inside the wardrobe and laying a tattered blanket over the base of the bed.

"You can use this room; just shout if you need anything"

Greg bounded into the hallway and cast his eyes over the girl quickly before giving Grissom a questioning look. Sara took the package and her kit from him before slowly steering the girl into the dark little room. Grissom loitered in the doorway watching as the girl sat on the edge of the bed, she looked so broken, so terribly traumatised it was heart-breaking to see. Sara didn't look much better, her arms stained to the shoulder with blood, her skin pale and her expression sombre and concerned. He was worried about her. A lot more than he probably should be. She lifted her eyes to meet his gaze, the whisper of a smile passing over her lips and causing his foolish heart to somersault.

"I'll be right next door"

His voice was quiet and reassuring and she nodded weakly and removed his jacket from the girl's shoulders. Her clothes clung to her thin frame and she almost had to peel them from her skin to bag them. She snapped photographs as she went. Documenting every item, every mark on the girl's skin before handing her the boiler suit to dress in and pulling the hairband from her own hair so that she could tie up her blood stained locks.

"I'll wait outside ok?"

The girl nodded and tore at the plastic as Sara carefully closed the door. Grissom appeared at his door almost immediately, noticing her hair hanging loosely in waves around her face. The colour had returned to her face and she sighed as he watched her gaze out of the window into the yard.

"She's got no injuries, not a single one. That has to be someone else's blood"

Grissom moved to her side before he realised what he was doing, his hand gently stroking the length of her arm inciting a sharp intake of breath as she almost flinched under his touch. He quickly withdrew his arm as she turned to look at him, her eyes questioning and confused.

"We better get her to a hospital anyway, I'll go with Nick. That way he can swing back to collect you guys"

He nodded as the girl appeared at the doorway in the boiler suit, her hair tied back in a messy bun, blood still smeared over every visible part of her skin. Sara collected her evidence bags and walked with Anna towards the stairway. Grissom stood at the window and watched as they approached Nick's car slowly. He had an overwhelming sense of missed opportunity, it surprised him how empty that made him feel. Nick approached the girls with his usual casual swagger and they all piled into his car.

Grissom waited for them to pull out of the driveway but they didn't move. The car didn't roar into life and carry them away it coughed and spluttered and died. Nick tried to start it numerous times before popping the hood and staring at the engine. Sara made her way to his side.

"What's the matter?"

"I dunno, it was working fine this morning"

"Great, so we're stuck out here?"

Nick smiled at her as she paced, her anger rising in her chest. Anger at the car, at Grissom, at herself and at whoever was doing this to those girls. She was literally brimming with anger.

"What's up with you today? You're like a bear with a sore head, and I'll just call dispatch and get someone to pick you up. Chill"

Night was beginning to fall and she shivered as a gust of wind blew through the yard, her stomach growled reminding her that she had yet to eat since the previous day.

"Get him to bring food too, I'm going inside"

She stomped back into the house rubbing her arms and Grissom moved to the stairs to greet her. He realised a little too late how it would look. He had practically ran down the stairs and stopped midway, halting somewhere between twisting around and going back up or continuing on his way down towards her. he half hoped she wouldn't notice him, that she would step into the living room and he could pretend that he was going in there for something but of course, he was the first thing she saw as she stepped into the house. Her eyes immediately locked with his and he found he couldn't really do anything. He was frozen to the spot, incapable of making a decision either way.

"I uh… Nick can't start his car. Looks like we're stuck here for a while"

She didn't wait for a response or start conversation she simply walked into the living room and began grabbing wood and paper and throwing it into the fireplace. He didn't know what to do, he wanted to follow her into the room and explain to her why he treated her the way he did. Why he found it impossible to let her go, he had to keep pulling her in and pushing her away, toying with her despite the turmoil it left in his soul despite the sleepless nights she gave him when she looked at him that way. The sorrow and heartache stabbing into his heart like a thousand knifes and yet, he would do it again. It was like he had no control over himself; no matter how hard he tried to give her up he just couldn't do it. She was his addiction, he wished that he could explain it to her properly, wished she would know just how much it tormented him but he knew that the second he opened his mouth he would mess it up and upset her again.

He was stood there in the middle of the steps staring into the space she had vacated, inhaling the sweet scent she left behind and wondering just what he was going to do about this latest fiasco when Greg appeared at the top of the steps.

"You need some help there Griss?"

His voice brought him back to reality but he didn't move from his position, it was as though he was glued to the step, incapable of moving on. It did strike him as slightly Ironic.

"You want me to start on the rest of upstairs?"

It seemed as though his brain was sluggish. Confused and muddled by the events of the day. He looked at Greg with a frown but before he could speak Nick burst through the front door with Anna in tow.

"I can't get through to dispatch, my phone just died"


	6. Chapter 6

They all ended up in the living room, the fire coming to life and licking around the paper and wood Sara had thrown in. she sat on the plastic covered sofa staring at the flames. Her dark eyes entranced by the hypnotic nature of the fire. Grissom was momentarily stunned by the image of her sitting there, her smooth pale skin bathed in the orange glow, her long slender legs tucked under her chin defensively. She looked positively enchanting and he wished for once that he had the self-confidence to stride over there and sit beside her the way Greg did. His arm draped lazily over the back of the chair as though it was the easiest and most natural thing in the world, yet to Grissom a move like that would have had huge significance and he knew it would to Sara too. Even the most innocent of gestures between them seemed to take on a huge magnitude he could never predict.

"My cell's not working either, Nick will you go and ask Franklin to radio for some back up? We've got two cars out of order and no service on the cells"

Nick nodded and headed off into the rapidly darkening garden as Grissom ushered Anna to the other dusty sofa. She sat down and fixed her eyes on her hands, twisting the sleeves of the boiler suit between her fingers absentmindedly. He didn't really know what to do after that, they were stuck there at least until the officer outside could radio for help. Darkness was quickly closing in and the lighting was unpredictable at best. They really should be staying together, safety in numbers, but he had already sent Nick out on his own and he had an irritating curiosity about the upper floor.

He decided to suppress it for the time being, propping himself up on a storage cabinet pushed against the wall he joined Sara staring into the flames.

"You know if we have to spend the night here I'm claiming this couch. It's really quite comfortable" Greg bounced around a little before Sara shot him a warning look "what? You can share with me ok? We can snuggle together for warmth"

"As tempting as that sounds, I think I'll go for a look around"

She uncurled from the sofa and switched on her flashlight before heading for the door. Grissom faltered for a second before moving to follow her out. He turned to Greg at the door and pointed to Anna.

"Stay with her, no-one is alone in this house ok?"

As he caught up with Sara on the stairs, Nick appeared at the door. If Sara heard, she didn't acknowledge it; she kept marching up the stairs studying the blood spatter carefully as she went.

"I can't find Franklin, I think he took off! I'm gonna try my cell again, where's Greg?"

Nick disappeared into the warmth of the living room while Grissom followed Sara into the cold and darkness on the first floor. He found her studying a bookcase in an office on the far end of the house. She looked up, surprised to see the beam of his flashlight in the doorway and smiled slightly before remembering she was mad at him and tuning away.

"I uh… we have to stay together. I don't want anyone getting hurt"

"I can look after myself"

"And I'm not denying that I just…"

"Come and have a look at this"

He stepped across the room carefully, it was practically untouched. The room coated in dust, the huge desk and chair in the centre poised as though waiting for their occupant to return. The walls were lined with books of every description. Sara's flashlight lit on one particular row.

"See the dust on every book? But these 4… they're clean"

"You're right… 'the paranormal', 'psychology' and 'Shakespeare'?"

He slid the forth book from the shelf and flipped through the pages.

"Life and death' it's a poetry book. There are notes on the margins"

"Looks like we have some reading to do, I'm going to light the fire"

Together they raised a fire, the light and warmth filling the room quickly. Sara pulled a blanket from the huge leather chair and spread it on the floor in front of the flames, arranging the relevant books on the fabric and sitting down beside Grissom.

And for a moment their easiness and comfort together returned as they poured over their books. Their focus turned to analysing the scrawled, barely readable notes at the side of every other page. Their eyes met every few minutes, whenever an interesting note or quotation cropped up. It was, of course, Grissom who involuntarily changed the mood.

"_Our souls sit close and silently within, and their own webs from their own entrails spin; and when eyes meet far off, our sense is such, that, spider-like, we feel the tenderest touch_"

He hadn't really recognised the significance of the words until they were already spilling from his mouth. It was merely a quote that had jumped off the page at him, it happened often when he read. Words and passages spoke to him and they became etched in his brain. Usually they had some significance in his life, usually he had the self-control to not vocalise them to the very person they reminded him of.

The air was suddenly thick with tension, when he looked up from the book he was immediately met with her eyes. Those eyes that drew him in hypnotised him with their honesty and their emotion. He could barely breathe, his heart pounding so hard in his chest if he could feel it, it would probably hurt. Only he couldn't feel anything, all of a sudden there was nothing but her, no dusty office, no creepy house, just him and Sara in the firelight.

The problem with that was he was drawn to her and with nothing else to shift his focus to he was defenceless. He studied her carefully, the firelight flickering in her eyes, the soft sweep of her hair as it brushed against her porcelain skin. There were a million reasons why this was a bad idea, why he shouldn't be looking at her this way and yet the space between them was slowly becoming non-existent. Almost completely involuntarily he tilted his head and their lips met. Softly, brushing together like a butterflies wings. It was a moment he had envisioned in his dreams and yet he had wholly underestimated how overwhelming it would feel, how addictive it would feel.

His body continued to move of its own accord, his hand brushing across her jaw and around her neck, pulling her closer to him. Their lips meeting again, harder and hungrier this time. He wasn't surprised she tasted sweet, her lips soft and moist. In his wildest dreams she hadn't sent him into such a flurry of emotion. He felt like he was soaring, his heart beating so fast he could feel his blood whizzing through his veins as her hand gently rested on his chest. Her hair ran through his fingers like fine silk as his thumb stroked below her ear. So many years of abstinence, he had spent so long admiring her from afar, training himself in restraint and control and he wondered why he had bothered. She was worth absolutely every risk, just to taste her lips, to touch her skin; he would risk anything in that moment.

But their moment was short lived, as magical as it was.

In an instant the lights cut out and the attic seemed to be alive with activity. Bangs and scrapes, shattering glass and a rattling noise filled the house. Grissom and Sara pulled apart, their moment suddenly forgotten as they pulled their firearms and cautiously approached the stairs to the attic. Nick bounding up the stairs in the hall and meeting them to listen at the doorway.

The banging and scraping continued, a box teetering on the edge of the top stair, poised on the cusp of tumbling towards them. Grissom and Nick stepped ahead of Sara, cautiously taking the stairs as silently as they could.

Peering over the precariously perched box they saw Franklin muttering to himself and throwing boxes and furniture around the attic, piling it all into one corner as tears fell from his face.

"Franklin? What are you doing?" Nick tried to speak clearly and calmly, using all the skills he had learned in his negotiation course. They were useless Franklin didn't acknowledge their arrival at all, almost as though he was sleepwalking. The three of them converged at the top of the stairs and watched as he lit a long match and threw it onto the pile he had made. The materials clearly soaked with some kind of accelerant as flames ripped through the attic instantaneously in an explosion that threw them down the stairs in a cloud of smoke, flames and rubble.


	7. Chapter 7

When the dust settled his first thought was to look for Sara. The ringing in his ears made him dizzy and as he heaved himself from the floor he shook his head in an attempt to steady himself. He saw Nick brush the dust from his jacket and his hair with an air of annoyance. His attention drawn to the now brightly lit and open attic room at the top of the stairs. Franklin was almost certainly a mere memory by now. Flames licked at the edges of the doorway but it was by no means a raging inferno, Nick took a nearby fire extinguisher and took off to tackle the blaze as Grissom scanned the mess of wood and rubble around them but he couldn't see her and a horrible feeling of dread began to build up in his heart.

It wasn't news to him to realise just how much she meant to him, he was reminded of that almost every day. What struck him was the general feeling of fear, the panic that was creeping in at the thought he may never see her again. the hollow emptiness he would feel without her there to smile at him, to listen to him with such intense curiosity, to challenge him and push him to be a better man, to be a braver man, to love just a little bit more. He had always known that he loved her, he was beginning to realise that he needed her too. Then he heard her coughing, somewhere among the rubble she was unearthing puffs of smoke and dust and he ran to her with an urgency that surprised even him. A part of the door had hit her in the explosion, knocking her over but probably protecting her from the majority of the blast.

"Are you guys ok? What happened up here?"

Greg appeared at the top of the stairs, scanning the damage and crouching down by Sara's side immediately. He helped Grissom heave the bulk of the door from her body and helped her to stand with some gentle coaxing. Greg kept hold of her arm for support as she looked around at the devastation around them.

"Franklin torched the place" said Nick slowly coming down the stairs "he must have used a chemical accelerant. There are barely any flames left, just the explosion site. Like the fire never happened"

"Kerosene" Sara croaked, everyone turned to stare at her "what? I'm fine"

She pulled out of Greg's grasp and fished in her pocket for her flashlight as she headed towards the stairs after Nick. Greg bounced ahead in front of her, not in the least bit concerned about her rejection of his support. Grissom, however, was still worried about Sara. The chalk from the plaster stuck in her hair and coated her smooth pale skin. It made the striking darkness of her eyes stand out even more than they had before and as he placed his hand on her arm to stop her march towards the stairs he realised he was dumbstruck. For years he had pictured what he would say to her, how he would tell her exactly what she meant to him and yet now he was faced with the prospect words failed him completely.

She paused, barely an inch between their lips, their eyes meeting in a moment that took his breath away completely. It would have frightened him before, the emotion of her expression. He would have run a mile if she had looked at him that way even the day before and yet there they were suspended in their blissful, silent moment together. Their eyes sharing a secret that even they didn't want to admit to just yet.

"Are you hurt?"

He realised how ridiculous the statement was given the circumstances, his vast knowledge of poetry and literary masters and the only words he could form in the perfect moment was 'are you hurt?' And the answer was very evident as the soft expression evaporated from her eyes and she stomped off towards the attic.

She was now.

Nick and Greg studied the gaping hole in the roof as she took the last few steps into the attic. At least Franklin had cleared some of the boxes and furniture away to let them get a better grasp on the size of the room. Greg smiled at her as his flashlight looked her up and down.

"You look awful"

"Thanks Greg" she deadpanned as she moved closer to them, the sounds of Grissom working through the rubble downstairs irritating her immensely. So much so she had to actively supress the eye roll threatening to escape her expression.

"What's up with you and Grissom today?"

Nick looked up from his position in the eaves to frown at them both suspiciously. He flicked his flashlight to Greg and tilted his head for more information as Sara ignored the comment completely.

"I totally caught them having eye-sex in the basement"

"GREG!" she slapped him hard on the arm and flushed bright red but she couldn't supress the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth despite her protests. "He's delusional… I … we were working…"

Nick eyed her with a teasing smile and raised eyebrows as she shook her head and attempted to come up with some explanation. She started stuttering out something about the lights and the case as Grissom called up to them from the lower floor.

"Hey Greg, if you're up there where's the girl?"

Panic stricken Greg ran for the stairs and descended them three at a time, before he even reached Grissom rock music filled their ears, the throbbing base shaking the dust and cobwebs all around them and straining through their brains like nails on a blackboard. Greg stumbled before the bottom step, sliding on the rubble to Grissom's feet with a sheepish smile before scrambling to his feet and taking off in pursuit of either Anna or the phantom stereo.

Grissom looked up at her, his expression harried and hopeful. She was all too aware of Nick at her back, peering over her shoulder. The grin that broke out across his face when he saw their eye contact had her blushing again. Her heart skipping beats not only at the new attentive Gil Grissom but also at the fact that their team-mates were noticing. It wasn't in fact a figment of her imagination as she had begun to suspect.

"Eye-sex huh?" Nick whispered as he turned back into the attic, she could almost feel the smile on his face but she didn't dare turn to look at him. She could easily deny all knowledge of anything happening between her and Grissom but she knew the minute she made eye contact with Nick she would betray all her arguments.

She crouched down to the floor, studying some marks in the wood and brushing the dust and ash from the area.

"This could be more scratch marks, headed … towards the window"

Nick nodded and followed the markings across the attic floor, he knew that however intoxicated or delirious Franklin was he could still have had a moment of regret before the blast and caused the scratches himself. It was their job to find that out.

They could hear a muffled, yet shouted conversation downstairs. Grissom and Greg relaying information back and forth and Grissom getting increasingly irritated. They continued to process the attic in near silence, her embarrassment had passed and she was able to look at him and even engage in a little conversation as long as he didn't mention Grissom again.

Deep in the eaves, Sara found a music box. She crawled out from under the dust and debris clutching it in her hands and wound the key, watching as the lid opened and a tiny ballerina danced to the music.

"Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata"

Grissom's voice behind her made her jump, the box falling from her hands and clattering on the hard wooden floors. The little ballerina stopped dancing, her beautiful sonata silenced and her box lay broken. Grissom bent to help her pick up the piece's, he was trying desperately to get eye contact with her, she could feel his gaze burning into her but she shied away from it, purposefully avoiding his shining blue eyes. Nick was right there, in the same room. Watching their every move although he didn't make it obvious. As Grissom handed her the box she noticed something catching the light in the interior of the casing.

"There's something in there, hold that for a second please"

Grissom dutifully held the box exactly the way she had handed it to him. Both hands clasped around it as she shone her flashlight into the opening and studied it carefully. He really should have been peering into the box, he really should have been helping her figure out this particular puzzle but instead he found himself studying the way her hair fell around her face, the way her eyelashes flickered when she blinked, the gentle curve of her lips as she pondered how to find out what was inside without destroying the box. She pulled a small, slim screwdriver out of her pocket and used it to prise open one side, her slender fingers reaching into the gap and pulling out a huge iron key.

"Could open that door in the shed?"

"Only one way to find out…"

He gestured to the stairs and she immediately started walking, once more excited at a new discovery but at the bottom of the stairs she walked right into a very agitated Greg Sanders.

"I can't find her, I can't find Anna. I swear she was asleep on the couch when I left!"


	8. Chapter 8

Grissom looked around the area exasperated. This scene was turning out to be a lot more trouble than he had anticipated and he had let his guard slip with Sara more times than he cared to count. He had to put some space between them to catch his breath, to regain control.

"Ok Sara, you go with Greg and find the girl. Nick and I will try the door again"

She was about to launch into a lengthy argument with him when she suddenly remembered the two pairs of eyes on her. It would probably look a bit suspect if they went disappearing into the shed together considering the rumours that were already blossoming. There was no disguising the fury in her eyes as she tried to supress the anger; she had to physically bite her bottom lip to silence herself. Grissom obviously noticed he opened his mouth to reassure her, to fight his corner but she stormed off after Greg with a curt 'fine' in his general direction.

She caught up with Greg outside, it was getting really cold and the darkness had well and truly settled in. she shivered against the cold wind and hugged her arms closer to her body in a feeble attempt to find warmth.

"We'll spiral the building then check inside. She won't have gotten far"

She merely nodded. She was very aware that her quick tongue could get her into trouble, especially with Greg. She took out her frustration on him all too often. As they stepped off the porch and onto the grass she could hear Nick and Grissom approaching, chatting amongst themselves as they moved. She wanted nothing more than to run in the opposite direction but Grissom called out to her and broke into a small run as she turned around to meet his gaze. He seemed to be paralysed for a long moment as he looked into her eyes; she tried really hard to maintain her defiant stare. His eyes pleaded with her, such longing and confusion lit in those eyes it melted her icy exterior almost immediately. She thought for a second he was about to verbalise what he was clearly feeing, as he faltered, struggling to form the right words.

"I uh… I… you took the key"

For a moment she just stared at him. She didn't really know what she had been expecting him to say, not in a million years would it have been close to the declaration of love she deserved but he could have gave her something. Anything to show her that today wasn't a one off. That he wasn't still using her for his little game.

Instead he asked her for a key.

With a heavy sigh and her very best 'death glare' she handed him the key wrapped up in her soft handkerchief. He opened his mouth and inhaled, about to try and placate her no doubt but she was in no mood to listen to him right now. She would only bite his head off and her bite was defiantly worse than her bark. She turned on her heel and caught up with Greg, disappearing around the side of the house with a small backwards glance that burned into him so much that he checked for scorch marks as he moved back to Nick.

"Hey did you get the key?"

Grissom didn't answer; he was still smarting from the venomous look Sara had shot him as she retreated around the building. It had been a while since he had upset her enough to warrant that kind of a look.

"Grissom?"

He would have been better talking to a brick wall

"Hey Grissom! Snap out of it man, what's going on?"

Grissom looked up at Nick in a dream –like state as he slowly wandered past him lost in thought. Nick stared after him, completely confused by his demeanour.

"For I dipped into the future, far as human eye could see, saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be"

And he walked off towards the shed leaving a very bewildered and bemused Nick standing on the porch worrying about his friend's mental state.

XXX

Sara practically bore a hole in Greg's back as they paced their last circle of the garden. They had yet to find any trace of Anna. Not a footprint or a bent blade of grass, she had simply vanished.

"What are you so mad about?"

Sara tried her best wide eyed and innocent look "I'm not mad"

"Puh-lease, what's he done now?"

"Nothing" Sara took the few steps onto the porch toward the front door before turning back to him. "I just wish I knew what he was thinking sometimes. I don't know what's going on anymore"

Greg saw the veil of anger lift and an altogether different Sara stood before him. A vulnerable and confused Sara with an aching heart and he knew there was nothing he could do or say to make it better. The ball was in Grissom's court and he didn't like ball games.

There was a massive clatter from the basement almost the second Sara stepped through the door.

"I thought you checked the basement?"

Greg shrugged his shoulders "I did!"

Sara disappeared into the dark basement; Greg was poised on the top step about to follow her down when there was a sound like shattering glass upstairs. He hesitated between going after Sara and investigating the noise when he heard sobbing, coming from the top of the stairs.

He moved up the stairs and into the bathroom, Anna was seated in the middle of the floor a huge shard of glass slicing into her palm as she grasped it against her wrist and sobbed loud gasping sobs.

"Anna? Are you ok?"

Tears streaked down her face and she shook furiously. The taps had been switched on and water started splashing onto the floor, mixing with the blood and marbling around her knees.

"I brought her here, I killed her, and it's my fault"

Greg carefully picked his way across the room trying to catch her eye.

"It's not your fault. Anna look at me, it's not your fault. Put the glass down"

Grissom and Nick appeared at the bathroom door. Worried expressions on their faces. Anna grabbed the glass harder, blood pouring out of her hands and her sobbing intensifying. Greg ignored his friends and stepped closer to Anna, reaching his hand out as he finally caught her eye.

"Come on Anna, we'll find your friend. I promise"

They paused for a few long moments before Anna let the glass fall and shatter on the bathroom floor. She collapsed into Greg's outstretched arms, her shoulders heaving with the force of her sobs.

"Where's Sara?"

Greg looked up at his friends for the first time.

"There was a noise in the basement, before she smashed the window"

A look of absolute horror cast over Grissom's face, the house was riddled with secret rooms and passages and it was obvious something strange was going on within its walls. And Sara had gone into the basement alone, despite his instructions.

"Greg, I said no-one was to be alone!"

He hurried down the stairs with Nick close at his heels. His heart was pounding in his chest, every breath was as struggle and his stomach churned as his imagination ran away from him. All sorts of horrific images flashed before his mind's eye. The terrible things he had witnessed ran through like movie clips only those poor broken women were now Sara. Bloodied, hurt, raped, killed and completely hollow of all emotion. He couldn't bear to see Sara like that.

Suddenly he paused, the door to the basement looming on front of him and he couldn't will himself to step through. The overwhelming sense of dread closing in on him gripped his chest and prevented him from moving any further. Nick passed him with a sideways glance, his flashlight lighting the corners of the room as his words echoed off the walls.

"Sara? Hey, we found her Sara. She was upstairs"

Nick slowly realised Sara wasn't there, the basement was huge but there wasn't really anywhere for a person to hide. He drew out his firearm suddenly aware that if Sara was gone then there was surely someone else in the building. Grissom slowly stepped down into the space; his face told Nick that he already knew he wasn't going to find her there. He moved across the floor to a patch of wall and started pushing on it and pounding his fists hard, unearthing dust and plaster.

"There's a door here, Sara found it earlier. It was a room"

Nick held his flashlight up to highlight the wall as Grissom carefully ran his fingers over the clear patch. He was sure he could feel a seam. Nick passed him a penknife and he slid it through the narrow space between the wall and the door. He prized it open with a great deal of effort, finally revealing the small room Sara had found herself in earlier in the day.

This time Sara wasn't to be found in the darkness. They stepped into the tiny room simultaneously. Sitting on the chair in the centre of the room was an old television set. Grissom slipped a glove over his hand as he moved towards the set and pressed the on switch. It buzzed to life, a flickering black and white image lighting up the room and taking their breath away.

Another room, similar to the one they stood in only this time the chair in the centre of the room had Sara tied to it. Her wrists bound tightly behind the chair and her mouth taped closed. Her head hunched forward indicating she was unconscious. Grissom clung to the side of the television, studying the image desperately for any hint or clue to where Sara was being held. A sliver of light, a texture, a noise, anything would do but he knew it was no use. It was a black, empty little room and they were rapidly learning that this house could hide a multitude of secrets.

Sara shuffled in her chair, clearly beginning to wake up. Her head lolled about drowsily as she tried to sit upright. She shuffled her feet uprooting a cloud of dust and dirt but more importantly Grissom was sure he heard a distinctive sound when her shoes clicked onto the ground. He had to be sure, he willed her to move her feet again. As though she could hear him she heavily placed both feet hard on the ground. Stone. It was defiantly a stone floor.

"She's in the shed… We have to get that door opened"


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: sorry for the huge delay in updating! Life gets busy at times, hope you enjoy this chapter the next one should be up a lot quicker. Please take a moment to give me your thoughts I really appreciate it. Thanks in advance! Love Charli xx**

Nick and Grissom bolted out of the cellar at an alarming rate just as Greg was beginning to venture towards the stairs.

"Where are you going? Where's Sara?"

They completely ignored him. Concentrating instead on their mercy mission in the shed. Nick didn't question how Grissom knew she was there or why he was so sure about it, he simply followed his mentor and they took the few stone steps down to the big iron door they had converged on earlier.

Greg meanwhile had took the stairs down into the basement and found the door wide open, his flashlight lit on the TV screen and fell to the floor as his grip loosened with shock. He sunk to the floor to stare at the black and white image of Sara on the screen. It made him feel sick, to see her so vulnerable and exposed. She was always so strong and in control. He felt guilt welling up in his stomach, a horrible gut wrenching feeling that he had done this to her. That this was his responsibility, he should have stayed with her. He should never have left her alone no matter how irate she happened to be at the time.

Outside Grissom and Nick were wrestling with the huge iron door. The key didn't fit, none of the tools from the shed would work and the cell phones were still defunct. With every passing minute Grissom was becoming more and more agitated. He could feel his pulse thumping in his head, his heart pounding in his chest and his breath rasping and tearing at his throat as panic gripped him.

He stomped up the stairs and paced around outside in an attempt to reduce his blood pressure and focus his mind. It was a fruitless exercise, he couldn't get her out of his head and he was worried about her. Really worried. A lot more worried than he would let Nick or Greg know about although he couldn't claim to be doing a good job of hiding it. His garden pacing was making sure of that.

His mind was running away with him, he was conjuring up all sorts of images and doing himself no favors. He couldn't help but wonder what this kidnapper's motives were. It was confusing to say the least; he was usually quite skilled at getting into the mindset of the killer yet this time he couldn't even claim to understand what this person was doing to his victims.

Anna had clearly been traumatized by her ordeal but she had no injuries, not even a bruise and she claimed she had not been sexually assaulted. He had heard of criminals who got off on mental torture before but had never come across one in his career and more than anything he wasn't sure Sara was strong enough to deal with that. In a way physical torture would have been better, physical pain was a lot easier to deal with than mental pain and at least the scars were visible afterwards, if this guy was planning on targeting Sara's fragile mental state he wasn't sure he would be able to get through to her again.

He glanced around the garden in desperation, there had to be something, anything that would help them. A tuft of dirt out of place, a key under a plant pot, a suspicious looking paving slab. Then he saw the axe, glinting in the corner as his eyes fixed on the sharp blade. If he couldn't get through to the other room through the door maybe there was a way in through the shed. It couldn't be stone and iron all the way, there must be something else. Before Nick had a chance to register him or voice his concern Grissom swung the axe high above his shoulders and started hacking into the old rickety shed. Wood and debris flew everywhere as he took out all his pent up frustration and aggression.

Nick could only watch on in shock, he had never seen Grissom act so out of control. He was always so controlled, always so unreachable and here he was, heart on his sleeve smashing things up with an axe to get to Sara. His show of strength and anger didn't get him very far, the shed may have been destroyed but the door and whatever it contained remained steadfast. In fact despite Grissom's impressive blow-out there was barely even a dent in the metal, the only effect it had was a few shining scratches where metal clashed with metal.

In the end Nick simply rested his hand on his shoulder and nodded towards the house. As he marched a weary Grissom back into the house he glanced back at the carnage they had left behind. Grissom immediately headed down to the basement muttering to himself while Nick looked for Greg.

Grissom was glad of the alone time, he had to get control of himself. He wouldn't be helping anyone by losing his temper like this; the ruined shed outside the basement window was an aching reminder of that. He moved into the tiny room and stared at the television set. Sara was almost fully awake now, her head was erect and she tilted her head as though she was listening to something. He studied her intently, if only he could hear what she could hear. He tired turning the volume button but it only increased the already loud humming that interfered with his thought process enough.

He could see her squirming in her seat; she was trying to be subtle so whoever was holding her was nearby. She pulled and twisted her hands in an attempt to free her wrists. He could almost feel the ropes burning his own wrists, cutting into the skin and creating red and angry ligature marks.

"Grissom? Can I get you anything?"

Greg's voice upstairs which he chose to ignore, he wasn't in the right frame of mind for Greg right now. He was angry, worried and scared. He was bound to take it out on someone and as he heard Greg's footsteps descending the stairs he could feel the anger welling up inside him again like a kettle getting ready to boil. The bubbling reached its crescendo as Greg's figure blocked out the light from the doorway and he gazed at him with that sympathetic, worried expression reserved for widow's and crazy people. Gil Grissom was neither and he wasn't about to become one either.

"Get out of here Greg"

"I just wanted to see if you needed anything, I was gonna make some coffee"

"Come over here Greg" he waved his hand at Greg, still staring at the television. When Greg was by his side he whispered in the young man's ear "can you hear what she's saying?"

Greg crouched down and pushed his ear against the speaker with a frown. Grissom watched as a deep concentration cast over the young man's face. Neither of them dared even breathe through fear of missing a key piece of evidence, the air became thick and heavy. The burden of guilt weighing down on them both.

Greg shook his head indicating he couldn't hear anything but Grissom stopped him with a raised finger, his eyes narrowing and all his attention going into listening, listening so hard he was sure if a pin dropped in LA he would hear it.

"Scraping…" he whispered mostly to himself as he focused his eyes on a bare patch of wall in an attempt to block out any other stimuli to his brain. The only problem was his eyes were drawn to the television; he couldn't stop watching no matter how much he wanted to.

The he spotted it, the tiniest movement on the screen. She hadn't just been placing her feet on the floor she had been pushing herself backwards. The dirt on the ground of the TV screen had deep drag marks in it as she shuffled as slowly as he could across the room and he could hear the scraping right outside the very room he was standing in.

"There's another door"

With his statement Grissom simply marched out of the tiny room and started grabbing at tools littered around the basement. When Greg emerged to stare at him with bewilderment he waved his hand back to the room.

"You watch her, you tell me immediately if you see anything worrying, if you see ANYONE ok?"

He could only nod before retreating back into the room and returning to his crouched position in front of the TV. Grissom followed shortly after; sledgehammer in hand he began to run his hands over the walls of the room with intense scrutiny.

Suddenly and without warning he raised the hammer and it collided with the wall. They both expected a plume of dust and a mass of rubble but instead the wall caved and Grissom's flashlight illuminated a dark, narrow passageway. He barely even looked back before he headed off into the blackness, Greg stood at the opening peering in with a concerned look.

"You sure that's a good idea Boss, heading off on your own?"

Grissom raised his flashlight to Greg's face holding its position for a moment before speaking clearly and calmly.

"You watch the screen Greg, I'm going to find Sara and I will not come back without her"


End file.
